Polo's (1st Timer) IMFL Race Report

Gordon Polozola · November 12, 2015 8:00PM

Experiences of a First Timer (tried to be detailed - sorry if too much info)

Pre-Race

Wed:
Travelled to PCB on Wednesday. Made sure I drank during the 6 hour drive. Worked from my daily checklist: did Athlete registration on the way in (no line!); also knocked out mandatory Athlete Briefing; grocery shopped; checked-in hotel – all done. Was going to do a bike ride but felt “rushed and distracted” and it was going to get dark toward the end – changed out of my bike clothes after thinking “what was this ride really going to do for me other than put me at risk for a crash…?” Normal dinner – Pizza to go.

Thurs:
Apple sauce, banana; protein drink; bagel with honey for breakfast; Morning Bike Course recon – drove to loop and rode loop. Got familiar with the course so I could concentrate on execution during race rather than “where am I going”. Unfortunately discovered I needed more gears (have 12-21 cassette for “actually flat” Baton Rouge). Quick study on shifting required for steep rollers and bridge.
Back to hotel to pack gear and SN bags (found out we don’t get special needs bags back at briefing – change of strategy for bags).
Recon Swim with EN teammates in wetsuit; continued drinking Gatorade Endurance and water (Learned: condo to sight on way back in; swallowing even a little saltwater was a potential gamechanger; large jellyfish in surf; could swim race rehearsal pace without kicking in wetsuit). EN team mojo was great because I was traveling alone (and nervous if left to my own thoughts). Subway sandwich for lunch.
Team dinner at Bonefish Grill was helpful for sharing strategy/shedding worries/gaining confidence. Normal dinner - and beer for the nerves. Coach P talked me off the ledge while Coach R didn’t sugar coat it so I’d be mentally prepared – great coaching combo! What a great privilege to be there.

Friday:
Big pancake breakfast – no butter; no meat. Four Keys talk at 10am. Continuing to hear that best run experiences have followed smart bike. Made sure I was hydrating. Bag & Bike Check-in done and surveyed transition area. Quick visit through Village, but got out of there. Continued to see other athletes running themselves into the ground on race eve - crazy! Banana; bagel with honey; apple sauce; protein drink for lunch. Pretzels during the day while hydrating. Very mentally challenging day alone in the condo – kept bringing my mind back to process and staying in moment. Organized race gear. Plain pasta with very light drizzle of tomato sauce and sports drink for dinner. In bed by 8pm.

Race Day Morning: Woke at 2am; half of bagel with honey; protein drink; two cups applesauce; honey stinger waffle; banana; some sports drink and back to bed. Woke up at 4:30, dressed and head to bag drop off and transition. Paper tape on nips – it works great. Sports drink on way.

Transition: discovered that taping gels and glasses on a bike covered with dew didn’t work even when wiped off. Taped all around gels to keep them on – that worked. Could have used a flashlight too. 105 lbs in tires.

Swim: Went with wetsuit option to remove ocean variables and calf-cramp concerns. Drank sports drink up until hour before swim; Powergel at 15 minutes prior. Sprayed goggles with water and baby shampoo solution; shake off excess – outstanding anti-fog. Swim was still high traffic despite rolling start. Goggles kicked off (I wear them under my cap so not lost); foot cut by other athlete’s watch I think; kicked in stomach; constantly getting cut in front of/stroke interrupted. Moved to outside a bit to concentrate on smooth and steady pace; mind automatically went to counting strokes - much better. Thought I was sighting well as I was passing very near guide buoys but GPS said I swim 2.6 miles over the two loops. Looks like Ed discovered the darn guide bouys were crooked. Inevitably I drank some saltwater during swim. Happy with pacing – 1:51/100 on first loop; 1:53 on second. Walked beach as far as I could rather than swim the diagonal although volunteers were forcing athletes back into water almost immediately. Drank water at halfway point to flush saltwater, no gels offered. HR – 164

T1- 12 minutes (a lot I know); but, I walked the entire T1 to try to get HR down; and my stomach was a bit queasy from swallowing saltwater – flushed by drinking water (kept reminding myself that the race does not start until Mile 18); did NOT use wetsuit strippers in the sand – good call; put on socks, shoes, helmet, reapplied chamois cream, sunblock station, put on arm coolers while walking. No seats in T1 available so changing was cluster; had to pack own wetsuit and swim gear in bag, climb over folks, etc. Hit port-o-john before getting on bike. Pros of T1 strategy: allowed mind-shift to totally different sport, comfort, no HR spike; Cons: lost 5-6 minutes.

Bike: HR started high (145 bpm) and very “disconnected” from typically associated power. To ride even “JRA power” resulted in above “normal” HR. So I made the decision to ride at a capped HR (not based on power) until the HR "coupled back" with my power. Ate honey stinger waffle and drank almost two bottles of Perform (used for different carb mix) by the first aid station, while riding easy, to get a jump on nutrition. Got passed by everyone and their mother (and grandmother). HR and power finally came together about 10-13 miles into ride; continued to use JRA strategy until mile 33 per EN guidance. Did not use salt protocol until after an hour due to swallowed saltwater on swim (wanted to flush out); flattened course as much as I could but due to tight gearing I still hit 300 watts even with very “easy” riding and “soft” pedals up the bridge and over large hills. PowerGel (no caffeine) every 45 minutes to an hour (7 total); approx. two bottles of GE every hour; Base salt every 15 minutes (two licks); used water to cool down put on arm coolers at most every aid station. Pee’d five times during entire ride (had to stop at aid stations too – not a pee ninja yet); but, I was willing to give some time to stay fully hydrated as I have a history of leg cramping. Stopped at SN for two more bottles of Perform (again to change up carbs); 2 Tylenol; reapplied chamois cream. Stretched back often (at least every 30 minutes), but otherwise in aero the entire time. Switched to one bottle water and one bottle GE at last two aid stations. From Mile 75 to the finish I was passing so many people, it was difficult to move back to the right before I was passing another person. They were all riding tired and in the hoods, which was killing them, especially into the headwind after the bridge. I was finally hitting my target power and about 18-20 mph most of those miles. Moving time 6:35; total time 6:55 (so lost 20 minutes for peeing and one “sit down” visit; SN; stretching back). Moving time speed avg'd 17 mph – exactly as in RR2. JRA IF .61; Remainder IF.63 – so, I gave up 4% IF, but I was riding conservative as this was my first IM, I had never run more than 14 miles, was suffering from ITBS and I wanted a good run. VI was 1.09 – higher than 1.04 in RR, but this was from unavoidably spiking the power on the hills and the bridge due to gearing, despite riding as softly as I could. I still felt great.

Mentally, the ride was very difficult – almost torturous -- more difficult than physically. Staring at the numbers was draining so I started singing songs in my head once I got my bike rhythm. My mind also wanted to wonder to ‘what ifs’ and “the marathon”, so I had to remind myself to stay in my box, and do what I could do RIGHT THEN.

T2: 8 minutes (still giving up some time, but I wanted to stay relaxed and get that mind-shift again). Changed socks (which were soaked from sweat and water); put on running shoes and grabbed EN super-secret bag with all other stuff. Walked through T2 to allow my back to loosen and run legs to engage. Felt a bit tired, but good and sooo happy to get off the bike.

Run: I used my avg HR from the bike – 131 bpm (didn’t even have pace on my watch face). I felt like I was c-r-a-w-l-i-n-g through the dense crowd of cheering fans blaring “go get it” music. But I stayed focused and did a body check. Felt good so I started eating and drinking. GE and switched to BLOCKS chews (I like chews over gels for the run and it was something different). Ate a chew every mile at the beginning while I felt good; continued to take Base salt every mile. Ran to turn-around (first 10k) sticking right on my 131-133 HR; walked aid stations while I drank and got ice into my ziplock bag, which was ABSOLUTE MONEY!! Put the bag on back of my neck, on my chest, and when ice melted, poured ice cold water on my head. Never felt overheated. Estimate I lost about 20 seconds off my pace walking the aid stations but was a nice “reward” for making it another mile. Looks like miles 2-4 were slower although same HR then my pace increased at same HR – could have been improving once I got the ice to cool down my body. HR was steady and based on Garmin records my pace was too, although a minute slower than the first mile. I was going to increase the HR a little after the first 10k, but RnP said to let the race come to me (still had a long way to go). So I maintained the same HR. Continued to eat my BLOCKs, and drank chicken broth every time it was available – amazing. At Mile 10, my ITBS started hurting BAD (oh crap – 16 more miles I thought - doubts of finishing flashed through my brain). Mile 10 to 13 was extremely tough but I actually sped up by 15 seconds per mile (go figure). My battery in my watch went dead at Mile 12. So, I had to go by feel and I had Advil at SN! The Advil worked and kept the ITBS pain manageable. Notes from my family at SN gave me a second wind. Based on IM tracker I ran each segment of the second half of the marathon faster than the one before it (11:48, 11:38, 11:06, 9:27, 8:42). I just felt "steady" and I was passing a TON of people walking. I still had the ability to eat and drink, which kept my energy level even. At Mile 18, I hit no line. Although my ITBS was hurting bad, I considered myself lucky (or EN smart) and pushed. At the turn around I was running strong, which cautiously gave me more confidence (I sang the same song refrain in my head from that point on - like my daughter told me to do in her note – Slow Ride). I continued to eat chews, take my Base salt, drink GE and chicken broth, although slightly less. Every person I passed gave me energy. At Mile 21, I consciously picked up the pace until Mile 24 when "it was on" – no more aid stations – time to go hard (which turned out to be more than a minute a mile faster)! My feet were killing me (looks like I’ll lose some toenails), but it wasn’t going to hurt any less. I was so proud to be wearing that EN jersey running past all those people walking (no disrespect – I’ve had those days and I’m sure I will again, but this was me and my team’s day). I negative split the marathon by almost a minute a mile (11:41 v. 10:49). The last mile I enjoyed to the fullest as someone told me there is nothing like your first IM finish. I high-fived the crowd in the chute and heard those sweet words of Mike Riley declaring that I was an Ironman - all that work, all that sacrifice, it is still really hard to believe.

Finishing time was 13:33:09 (1:26:38 swim; 6:52:06 bike; 4:54:10 run).
And then if it could not get any better – an angel of a lady (aka Trish Marshall) – greeted me at the finish on behalf of EN, made sure I was okay (no med tent needed), got my hat and shirt, got me water, guided me to pictures and to “real food.” Frankly, I’m wondering if I should ever race an IM again because, while easily the toughest thing I’ve ever done in my life, I just don’t see my experience getting any better than this. Thanks to all those veteran teammates that counseled me when I was scared to death leading up to the race and kept me going during the run. And thanks to Coach Rich and Coach Patrick for getting me ready and teaching me how to actually execute an IM. Yes, I didn’t break any records and maybe could have sub'd-13 if I didn't take my time in transition, rode a higher IF and didn't have to get off the bike 5 times. But, I accomplished the goals I had for my first IM: start the race; finish the race; run the whole marathon; represent Team EN as it deserves; push myself farther than I ever imagined I could go; and have fun. Nobody can ever take that from me now.

Mike Roberts · November 13, 2015 2:17PM

Bravo, sir. Bravo. Congrats and welcome to the club. Great meeting and racing with you. When you're ready to sign up for another, come on back and we'll discuss areas where you can shave time, many of which you've already identified. Until then, continue celebrating.